Monday, October 19, 2015

[Fun For Free] Coney Island Park

No thanks to the haze for the past few weeks that we were so deprived of being out in the sun. Today we made an unplanned trip to the newly opened - Coney Island Park (alternatively known as Pulau Serangoon). The to-and-fro trip took us about 4 hours on our bicycles, going via the park connectors.

We did not bring anything except for the kids' water bottles, Vera's extra diapers and my pouch of oils as it was planned to be just a cycling trip.

Crossed over from Punggol Waterways

If you are driving or coming by bus, take a walk along Punggol Promenade Nature walk where Punggol Settlement is located (The stretch of restaurants and eateries), about 500m away, it will bring you to the west entrance of Coney Island Park. Don't forget to bring along the scooters or your foldable bikes if you do own one! Else you can rent a bicycle at the bicycle rental store just right at Punggol Settlement. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Coney Island Park (west entrance @ Punggol Promenade)

Coney Island Park (west entrance @ Punggol Promenade)

This path leads to the forests and beach (There are a total of 5 access points to the beach). We skipped Casuarina Exploration (A playground made from timber of uprooted Casuarina tress and other natural materials) for another day.

We came to the west promenade where the open sea was, took a few steps down and found many tiny water snails sticking on the wall of the steps.

For once, I'm so brave to allow the slimy little creature, go on the back of my hand so that I could show it to Vera. Kids would be kids, without any fear nor hesitation, she almost snatched the water snail off my hand !

We continued riding towards the east part of the park. The distance between the east and the west is 2.4 km, which is completely doable if you are exploring the park on feet. Bicycles and scooters would be good to speed up the journey.

Experiencing nature through riding.

The park was quite friendly with plenty of signboards around to help visitors get around without getting lost.

Till I saw the next sign that indicated Broadwalk , I told the daddy to make a turn in. Cyclists may wish to park their bicycles at the bicycle bay but we chose to bring it in with us.

The Broadwalk section cuts through a Mangrove and planks are made from fallen Casuarina trees. We did stopped and hope to see if we can spot any moving creatures in the water.

Nah,we did not spotted any #ConeyCows nor #ConeyBoars but we spotted #ConeyMonkeys. Not one but six of them ! The kids were excited of course, watching the monkeys ascended their way up the trees agilely and swinging on the branches.

Note that the monkeys could be aggressive, ruling from the possibility that they may be hungry. I thought Monkeys in the wild are usually "frightened" of crowds but this troop apparently was not. Unless you try to scare them off with a loud "sheeesh".

We witnessed one of them attempted to pull the bags off from the baskets where the bicycles were parked and the other making it's way slowly to the crowd, as if trying to intimidate the crowd by showing its rows of teeth. So parents with little kids, do be reminded to inform the kids not to provoke the monkeys for safety reasons.

We decided to do away with the beach as well to avoid getting bitten by sand flies. But we spotted a submarine instead from afar. Of am not wrong, opposite to where we were standing, is Pulau Ubin.

During our journey, we saw along aside, plenty of people taking their stroll for a satur-date in the nature.

We made a decision not to make a U-turn back and headed towards the direction of Pasir Ris Industrial Drive 6, all the way straight till we saw a red barricade, turned right, crossed the road and all the way down before the signboard for Lorong Halus appeared.

We made a quick stopover for a drink, disembarked from our bicycles and stroll to the end of the bridge, enjoying the greenery and tranquillity of the surroundings before making our way back via Punggol Waterway.

@Lorong Halus

Vera enjoyed the ride thoroughly listening and singing with her"mp3" along the way. She was pretty fine with skipping her lunch just for that noon and sang to the songs played on the mobile phone during our ride home.

Happiest was being able to get hold of some nice, cool drinks after the long hours of ride.

While waiting, more creatures were spotted. See if you can spot it ?

The chameleon

Spotted around the vicinity of Punggol Settlement

I loved how the parks are being connected by the park connectors and by being riding on our bicycles, we need not worry about having to go back to the starting point just to go back. There is always another option to return and allow us more opportunity to explore the other areas of the park.

Here are some of the items you may wish to pack if you are going to plan a visit :
- A cap /hat
- Portable battery operated fan
- Light and comfy attire
- Water bottles
- Scooters
- Sunblock for your face and hands else dress in light, cotton, long sleeves top works fine too if you are afraid of getting tanned.
- Camera (It's really a nice place for photography enthusiast to capture some beautiful pictures of the nature)
- Mozzie Repellant Spray/Patch but I used Young Living essential oils as my source of firstaid instead :
a) Peppermint on the crown of my head to feel cool under the scorching hot sun.
b) lavender in cases if there is any cuts or bites. It helps to soothe the itch and stops bleeding from cuts.
c) Purification on the limbs to repel mosquitoes and neutralizes sting bites.
d) Carrot Seed as my sunscreen. I applied it neat on my face.
- A clipboard and some stationery if you are bringing your child on a learning journey.
- Some food if you intend to spend longer time in the park or have a picnic by the beach. The nearest point you can buy food and drinks will be at Punggol Settlement.

We are going to plan a trip again, preferably on a weekday perhaps. It was a record breaking cycling trip for us, especially for Xav given the 4 hours. No special complaints except for the whining part when he had finished his last bit of water.

How to get there ?
Beside Punggol Promenade Nature Walk
From Punggol interchange, take bus 84 to Punggol Point Park/Punggol Settlement. Walk about 500m east along the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk to get to Coney Island West Entrance.

If you are driving, park your vehicle at Punggol Settlement if you are entering via the west entrance else the East Entrance will be along Pasir Ris Industrial Drive 6. Note that the operating hours of the park is from 7am to 7pm daily.

I got to read that there are guided tours too but seems that they are all taken up! Click HERE to check for availability.

CheekieMonkies shares more on Casuarina Exploration and 8 activities for the families if you would love to read more.